Popular Hudson Valley School ‘Permanently Closed’ Without Warning

Students in the Hudson Valley are scrambling after their school closed down without warning.

The Ridley-Lowell Business and Technical Institute, which has locations in Poughkeepsie, announced the school was “permanently closed, effective immediately.”

“Ridley-Lowell Business & Technical Institute has permanently closed. All campuses and facilities are closed. All classes and programs are canceled effective immediately,” the school wrote on its website.

A letter to students explained the closures are due to severe financial and operational challenges after the U.S. Department of Education withdrew the recognition of the school's accreditor, ACICS.

“The resulting economic and operational impacts left Ridley-Lowell unable to continue in operation,” the letter said, according to CBS. “Efforts to secure outside investment were unsuccessful.”

The Ridley-Lowell Business and Technical Institute also closed down their locations in Danbury, C.T., New London C.T., and Rhode Island.

Many students are now left scrambling with concerns over whether or not their credits will transfer or if they will get their money back.

“I have been attending Ridley Lowell for medical assisting for almost 2 years and I am literally FOUR MONTHS away from finally graduating and today they decided to close the doors permanently without any warning at all,” Janine Jude wrote on Facebook. “Meaning all my time & thousands of dollars spent for absolutely nothing. I don’t understand how a school can get away with something like this."

According to Jude, the Ridley-Lowell Business and Technical Institute is an hourly school which isn’t the same as a credit that most college students receive, making transferring much harder.